I just Care for a Care Kid
by XscouselondonerX
Summary: Ava Marshal is used to being alone, standing up for herself and relying on no one... Has she finally found a place that will change her mind? LiamXOC ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter o1**

_**Chasing Food**_

I sat, huddled in my own arms, on a street corner. The hood of my muddied black hoody was pulled up over my greasy blonde hair that has been pulled back into a plait. A grey rucksack say on my back, experience taught me never to leave it unattended. I pulled the frayed sleeves of my hoody further over my frozen hands and crossed them over each other, resting them on my muddied dark wash jeans, my once grey converses were now a grim brown.

My blue, sleep deprived eyes looked up as a man sprinted down the road in front of me with a black rucksack in hand, he rounded the corner at the bottom of the street. Chasing after the man was teenage boy around my age. He worn dirtied grey jeans and an equally dirtied purple hoody. The boy swore loudly as he stopped halfway down the road, standing on the opposite side of the street to where I was seated, giving up on the man with the rucksack.

My blue eyes studied him for a moment; his hair was a dark brown, matching his eyes… His dejected expression reminded somewhat of my own experience of when I first ended up on the streets.

"You're new at this aren't you?" I called from my side of the street, the boy whipped around to look at me, his body language was guarded. I stood up and shoved my hands in my pockets, the grey rucksack hung low on my back.

"What's it to ya?" He called back; surprising me somewhat with his cockney accent… we were far from London. I shrugged lazily.

"Not much" I replied easily. "You look like you need some help though" He eyed me cautiously. "Look I get it, you don't trust me… but if you're desperate there's a soup kitchen a couple of blocks from here on Hawthorn Road. It opens at about 5" I informed him before turning and walking down the street. The boy watched me before turning and walking the other way.

Later that evening around 5:30 I arrived at the soup kitchen, pushing open the chipped wooden door I was greeted with the welcoming smell of food, smelt like chicken soup tonight. Along the right hand side of the long rectangular room there was a counter, lined with large grey pots with volunteers serving from behind them. On the left there were multiple tables with homeless people dotted around on them, the majority were middle aged or older, I was most definitely the youngest in the room.

I joined the queue, hoody still up, hands still in pockets as I moved closer to the small bowl and roll of bread. I relieved my meal and took a seat on an empty grey table, eating my soup slowly to make it feel like there was more. Some of the homeless around me had finished their meals long ago and were now just here for the warmth. This was probably one of the only occasions when we were in a big group; for the most part the homeless avoided each other.

I was staring at my soup, hands wrapped around the bowl, absorbing the warmth when I saw someone sit down opposite me from the corner of my eyes.

"Piss off" I spoke, not bothering to look at them. I'd been approached before by people in here, they wanted me to deliver a package or go back to the houses with them… I wasn't stupid; those two things meant carrying drugs or being pimped out. For the majority I hated my parents, but at least they opened my eyes at an early age to the reality of the world.

"Nice to see ya again to"

I looked up at the sound of the familiar cockney accent and blinked in surprise as I saw the brown haired boy from earlier, a bowl of soup sat in front of him. His lips were drawn into a cheeky smirk that reached his eyes.

"Sorry" I apologised, shuffling my thin frame on the seat. I removed my hands from the bowl, rubbed them together and them placed them back around the bowl. "See you came then" I looked back up at the boy.

"Figured I'd be worth checkin' out" He shrugged easily,

"The offer of food always is" I replied with a small smile, "Just don't take off with strangers to get it… some folk went missing in the back of a van last week" I warned him casually. His eyes widened slightly before he relaxed and went back to his soup.

"I'm Liam" He introduced as he offered his hand. I eyed it suspiciously, he noticed. "Do I look like I have a van?" He joked.

"Ava" I finally took his hand and introduced myself. "So how long have you been homeless… can't be too long"

"'bout three days" He replied. "What 'bout you?"

"Coming close on a month I think" I replied, eating my soup in between. "I don't know you kind of loose track of time" I watched Liam as he eyed something over my shoulder cautiously. I followed his gaze and sighed. "That's just Ben" I explained to him, "He's not a fan of new faces, just don't talk to him and he'll leave you alone" I explained simply.

"What so you know everyone in here?" He asked,

"Almost… it's the same people here every week" I shrugged. "You get to know them by default"

"How old are you?" he asked suddenly.

"Bit blunt" I chuckled lowly, finishing off my soup, "15" I replied.

"Same" he replied as he finished his soup. His eyes flickered over to Joe again. I turned to look at Ben again and sighed.

"He really doesn't like you" I chuckled, noting to murderous look in the homeless man's eyes. "Come on" I stood, picking up my bread roll and making for the door. Liam followed after me, grabbing his own bread roll as he went.

We walked in silence for a few minuets, before Liam broke the silence.

"If you're 15 shouldn't you be in care?" He asked, shoving his hands in his hoody pockets, mirroring me. My jaw clenched slightly.

"Could say the same for you" I replied,

"I'm between care homes at the moment" He replied, before stopping suddenly and looking up at the building we were stood in front of. I followed his gaze and looked at the boarded up Elm Tree House.

"Ah…" I put two and two together, "This is your care home?" I asked.

"Yeah" He looked sadly up at the building.

"So let me get this straight" My change in tone made him turn to look at me. "You're sleeping cold every night even though you know that this place is empty and no one's going to be coming near it?" I laughed, "Liam, this place is perfect for squatting" I slapped his shoulder playfully before climbing over the fence.

"Wait" Liam called after me.

We walked around to the back of the house before I turned to Liam.

"You're the expert on this place… which is the easiest way to get in?" I looked up at him.

"Boys bathroom" He replied pointing to a translucent window on the ground floor that was covered by a loose grey shutter. Liam walked over to it and tried to loosen the board with no luck. I slipped my rucksack from my shoulder and pulled out a crowbar. I walked up to the shutter, wedged the bar between the metal sheet and the wall and pulled hard, pulling the shutter away from the wall with a loud clang. "You carry a crowbar?" Liam asked sceptically

"You don't" I laughed with a wink, before using the crowbar to smash the window. I went back over to my bag and placed the crowbar back into it.

"Something tells me you've done this before?" Liam smirked.

"What would make you say that?" I feigned innocence with a smile on my face, I walked up the window and through my bag through it, hearing a few items clatter on the other side. "Woops" I laughed before slipping in through the newly created gap, being careful of the glass that littered the pane. Liam slipped in through the window after me. I walked over to the tap and turned it, smiling happily as water came through, I turned it off and checked the lights, and they worked as well.

"What are you doing?" He asked,

"Seeing what utilities this place still has… the council will turn them off eventually" I replied.

"Shall I give you the tour?" Liam grinned, offering me his arm in a chivalrous fashion.

"I would be honoured" I laughed as I played along, taking his arm.

After the tour I left Liam to go and have a shower, the water was cold, the boiler having not been on for a while, but a chance to wash myself was too good to pass up. I stepped out of the shower and changed into a pair of clean clothes I found whilst on the tour. The black skinny jeans fit fine but the red hoody was a bit large on my thin frame. I didn't use to be as thin as I am now, I used to look healthy, but since being on the streets I'd lost a lot of weight and apparently a couple of clothes sizes.

I wandered back into the main living room of the house, towel drying my blonde hair as I went. It was out of the plait now and travelled half way down my back in loose waves. I looked at Liam as I entered, slouched over one of the sofas, grey dressing gown wrapped around his body, he'd obviously been quicker at showering than I had. Liam looked at me as I entered and smirked.

"What?" I asked cautiously.

"Nothing" He smirked, picking up the TV remote and turning it on. "You're just wearin' my hoody is all"

"Not yours anymore" I laughed slumping down on the sofas opposite him. He rolled his eyes. "So why'd you run anyway?" I asked.

"When this placed shut we were being moved to Burneywood" He replied.

"Ah" I nodded, "I can see why you choose the streets"

"You know Burneywood?" he asked,

"I spent a year there" I replied, "Worst year of my life"

"A few years ago I spent 6 months there, I wasn't going back" His eyes were dark as he thought back to his time at Burneywood.

"Well you'll be happy to hear this place might be opening again" I mentioned, his eyes snapped towards me.

"What?" He asked, sitting up straight.

"I read it on a newspaper I slept on… Apparently that girl's jump got you enough media attention that the council are thinking about reviewing the budget cuts" I told him. His lips lifted up into a grin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter o2**

_**Squatting, it's Ghetto.**_

I woke up before Liam, the early sun shinning through the window jolted my body into consciousness. After being on the streets for near on a month I learnt quickly that it's you snooze you loose. The pair of us had fallen asleep in the living room, not being bothered to move from the sofas. I yawned and stood up, stretching my arms above my head.

I quietly picked up my grey rucksack and tiptoed out of the living room, careful not to wake Liam. After visiting one of the bedrooms and the bathroom, my hair was tied up in a ponytail and my face washed, I stealthily made my way to the kitchen loading a loaf of sliced bread, a bar of chocolate and a large bottle of water into my bag from the fridge. I pulled my newly refilled bag onto my back and made my way out of the house, pausing as I passed the living room and heard the light snore of Liam. I bit my lip and glanced down at the red hoody I was still wearing over the plain white T-shirt. Part of me felt guilty for leaving him without saying thank you, but I knew that if I woke him up he would convince me not to go… he had a charm like that.

I placed my bag on the floor and slipped into the room, finding a piece of paper and a pen I wrote a small note.

_Thanks for the hoody and the food… But I don't do squatting, it's ghetto. Look after yourself and I hope your care home opens for you. _

_Ava. _

_X_

I folded the note and slipped it into his hand before leaving the room, picking up my bag and slipping out of the window I broke earlier.

After that life just ticked by, the soup kitchen provided 1 meal a day, five days of the week, and the loaf of bread lasted a couple of days, the chocolate was a missed comfort that I savoured and the water had only lasted a day. Things seemed to be back to normal… that was until I reached the end of the week.

I had found shelter in the doorstep of a closed shop; I had a piece of cardboard as a quilt and newspaper I'd fished from a bin as a mattress. A picture of Elm Tree House on the paper caught my eye and I glanced over the story, smiling as it revealed that the house was open and its Head care worker, Mike Milligan had been cleared for work. I pulled my bag up to my head to use it as a pillow and took my crowbar from the bag; clutching it in my hands, underneath the sleeping bag… it was my protection.

I had just been drifting off to sleep when shuffling of feet woke me. My eyes snapped open and locked onto the grubby man looming over me, his hands in the process of unbuttoning his trousers and pulling out what lay beneath. Bile rose in my throat, the man noticed I was awake and went to silence me with his fist. I jumped out of the sleeping bag; a grunt like scream ripped from my teeth as I swung the crowbar and caught the man flush on the jaw sending him to the pavement, the bones in his face cracking with the contact. The man groaned and got up onto his hands and knees. I screamed at him and swung the bar down again across his back.

"Oi!" A male voice shouted at me, out of the corner of my eyes I saw bright yellow reflective jackets running towards me. I managed to get one last swing at the man on the floor before strong arms wrapped around me, forcing me to drop the crowbar as he pulled my hands behind my back in an arrest like pose, but the cold metal never met my skin.

"Get him away from me!" I screamed my screeching noises finally forming words; I was now made aware of the blur in my vision as my eyes welled up with tears. The second police officer ran to the aid of the beaten man on the floor as blood continued to pour from his face. The police woman radioed in for an ambulance for the man whilst the police officer that was holding me pulled me away from the beaten man in attempt to calm me down.

The policeman led me over to the police car and retrieved a blanket from the boot of the car, keeping a loose hand on my upper arm. He wrapped the thermal blanket around my shaking frame and let me sit on the ledge of the boot of the car. He looked at me in concern as I stared aimlessly at the floor, a few tears that I couldn't control rolled down my cheek. The only thought that ran through my mind was what could have happened if I hadn't woken up, if the man had been able to complete what he intended…

I shook violently and wrapped the blanket tighter around myself, using it to dry my eyes as I tried to think of anything but that man.

"Hello?" The police officer said to me, I'd obviously been ignoring his other greetings.

"I left my bag…" I mumbled. "I need my bag," I sniffed back the hysterics and whipped my eyes again.

"We'll get it," The police officer assured. "My name's Joe Stevens, what's yours?" he asked, kneeling down in front of me so he could look at my reddened eyes. He was a young man, with shortly cropped blonde hair and light brown eyes; I could tell he was somewhat muscular even with the layers of police gear.

"Ava," I replied,

"Have you got a last name?" he asked his tone remained friendly. I shifted uneasily, and snapped my head up as an ambulance bleared past. "I need to take you to the station," He announced tenderly, my eyes widened and I jumped up making to sprint, but Joe hand restrained me before I even fully took my second step. "Hay, relax, calm down," He soothed; I struggled a bit more before slumping in his grasp. "We just need to sort this out,"

When we arrived at the police station I was led into a soft interrogation room, it was painted light green in colour with two beige sofas with a dark brown coffee table in between. I was left in the room and I made my way over to the two-seater sofa, opposite me were a single armchair and a black camera on a tripod. I pulled my legs into my chest and wrapped my arms around them, as I buried my head down into my limbs I was greeted by the faint smell of Liam from the red hoody I still wore. Inside my fear and shock raged against each other making my brain ache and my body shake occasionally, the only comfort I received was from the red hoody.

Outside of the soft interview room, Joe had manage to discover my name after matching my face to a missing persons report that was filed a little over a month ago. Following procedure he contacted my social worker Ms. Suzan Shaw who promised to come down to the station as fast as she could and in the meanwhile asked Joe to contact Mr. Mike Milligan. He made the necessary calls and Mike was very understanding, bearing in mind it was coming close of 4 in the morning.

When Joe next went to check on me he found me asleep on the beige sofa, my limbs pulled into my chest and hood pulled up over my head.

Mike and Suzan arrived at almost identical times meaning Joe only had to explain once what had happened, and he knew what had happened thanks to the CCTV footage his partner had discovered that had filmed the entire incident.

"The poor child," Suzan uttered once Joe had finished.

"How long has she been on the streets?" Mike asked.

"Just over a month," Suzan replied. "She was taken into care a year before that after both her parents were arrested and sentenced… She has no one else that we could find,"

The door to the room opened and Joe walked in, he was now only wearing his white shirt and black tie, behind him was a tall, greying man dressed in jeans and a chequered shirt. I pulled myself upright and rubbed my eyes of sleep.

"Ava Marshal," Joe greeted as he pulled over a chair from the side of the room for the other man to sit on, before Joe himself sat down in the armchair. I shifted awkwardly at the sound of my full name. "This is Mike Milligan; he's a care worker at Elm Tree House,"

"The man… is he…?" I shifted awkwardly again.

"He's in hospital with a broken jaw and multiple broken ribs," Joe replied. "We have the CCTV footage from the outside camera of the shop you were sleeping in front of," Joe announced.

"It was self defence," I spoke quietly, my tired eyes looking from Joe to Mike.

"We know Ava," Mike spoke soothingly.

"So will I be charged?" I asked,

"No," Joe shuck his head.

"Will the other man?" I asked,

"Yes," Joe replied,

"Do you need me to testify… in court?" I looked over my legs… "I can't be in the same room as him… I can't be near him again" My voice rose slightly.

"You won't need to," Joe calmed me quickly, "The CCTV footage is evidence enough," I sighed in relief, running a hand over my face.

"Ava, we need to talk about why you were on the streets to begin with," Mike spoke; I looked up at him and swallowed dryly. "You were taken into care just over a year ago into Burneywood, but a month ago you ran away," Mike continued.

"I don't do care homes," I mumbled.

"Ava you're only 15, you shouldn't be on the street," Joe spoke.

"I'd rather be on the streets than in Burneywood," I huffed.

"So you'd give a different care home a chance?" Mike asked causing me to stop, Mike was good, and he'd obviously had to deal with difficult children before.

"I wouldn't have to go back to Burneywood?" I asked. My voice portrayed my happiness.

"Not if you don't want to," Mike replied, "We have space at Elm Tree, I've already talked to your social worker and she says it's okay so long as the move is in your best interest,"

I bit my lip and looked to Joe.

"I'd go if I were you," Joe said to me. I inhaled deeply before nodding.

"Do you need to ask me anything else?" I asked.

"No, you can go… It's almost 7 O'clock," Joe replied, "Your bag has been handed into reception, and you can collect it from there… minus the crowbar," He smiled.

"Why did you even have a crowbar?" Mike asked.

"Protection," I replied simply, "Turns out I needed it," I looked down at my sleeve, fiddling with it between my fingers.

"Come on," Joe said as he stood up, opening the door for Mike and I to pass through. I walked easily through the station to the reception desk; I'd been here just over a year ago so I remembered my way around. I smiled as I arrived at the desk, spotting the elderly man behind the counter.

"David," I greeted him with a smile.

"Ava," He smiled back, "Not in trouble I hope," He raised an eyebrow, Joe and Mike stood behind me somewhat surprise that I knew the police officer.

"Course not," I chuckled. "There should be a bag for me here, grey rucksack, minus the crowbar," I quoted Joe as I spoke to David. David typed something into a computer bellow the counter before turning and opening a draw on the wall behind him, pulling the bag from it and handing it to me.

"You know Ava?" Joe asked.

"I kept her company when she was here about a year ago," David replied.

"Anyway," Mike clasped his hands together, "Let's get you back to Elm Tree,"

"Bye David, Joe." I nodded to the police officers as Mike shuck their hands.

I walked with Mike out into the car park and over to a navy coupe, I slipped into the passenger seat as Mike started the engine.

"Is Liam alright?" I asked as we drew closer to Elm Tree, Mike looked somewhat startled that I knew one of the children in his care.

"He's fine… How do you know him?" He replied,

"I met him in a soup kitchen," I replied, "Glad you got your job back by the way… From what Liam said you deserved it." I stated whilst looking out of the window, playing with the sleeve of the jumper on my lap.

"Thanks." Mike smiled softly at me; he had no doubt I was going to fit in at Elm Tree.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter o3**

_**Reasons to stick around**_

Being a Saturday, very few people were up and awake when Mike opened the ruby red doors to Elm Tree house, allowing me to step into the familiar building. My grey rucksack was slung lazily over my right shoulder and the red hoody was hanging loosely from my frame. My head tilted upwards as I scanned the entire room before I turned to face Mike.

"You got any food?" I asked.

"Yeh, Gina should be in the kitchen preparing breakfast," Mike replied. I nodded and made my way towards the kitchen, spotting a dark skinned woman making her way over to the long table with a tray of condiments. She turned around and jumped slightly at the sight of me.

"Who, who are you?" She had a strong lilt to her accent as she assessed me with stern eyes. She was large lady dressed in bright floral prints. Mike entered the kitchen behind me.

"Gina, this is Ava Marshal, she'll be staying with us," Mike explained.

"Oh, well nice to meet you Ava," She offered me her hand which I looked at wearily before shaking. "Are you hungry?" She picked up a plate of freshly made toast and offered it to me. I nodded and took four slices,

"Thanks," I murmured before eating the toast with some hurry, it had been coming close on a day and half since I'd last eaten anything. Mike and Gina shared a glance with each other. I finished the toast and Mike clapped his hands together.

"Well, let's show you to your room," Gina offered as she led me out of the kitchen and upstairs, directing me along a quiet corridor, a few light snores coming from behind various closed doors. The room she led me into was a light pink and orange colour scheme with large flowers painted on one of the walls; I wrinkled my nose at it, but appreciated the roof over my head nonetheless. "This will be your room," Gina motioned. "Do you want to get cleaned up," She looked down at my somewhat dirtied appearance. "I can run your clothes through the wash while you shower,"

"Please," I nodded, placing my grey rucksack on the bed and pulling out a bundle of dirty clothes. I pulled off my large red hoody and added it to the pile before handing it to her.

"There are towels in the cupboard," She motioned to the wardrobe in the room, "And there are toiletries in the bathroom, I'll be back in a minuet with a spare toothbrush," She spoke. True to her word she arrived back a few minuets later and handed me a toothbrush.

"Thank you," I took the brush from her and held it on top of a plain white towel. She motioned for me to follow her and led me to the bathroom. I entered the bathroom and closed the door, stripping out of my dirtied white T-shirt and jeans before opening the door a crack and passing the clothes to Gina.

"I'll place the clean clothes on your bed, hun," She called through the door; I closed it and locked it. I set to work cleaning myself and relished in the feeling of warm water on my skin for the first time in too long, and it was nice to be able to run my tongue along my teeth and feel that they were smooth. After my shower I wrapped the towel around my body and gathered my wet, wavy blonde hair over my right shoulder.

I could hear the vague signs of life from within the various rooms and a few unfamiliar voices were audible from downstairs. Quickly I made my way back to my new bedroom without bumping into anyone and noticed the neat piles of clothes on my bed. I changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, a white T-Shirt with a grey floral print on it and pulled Liam's red hoody onto my body once again. I ran a hand through my wavy blonde locks that was semi dry giving me the beach look. As I turned I caught sight of myself in the mirror, I lifted up my top and frowned, running my fingers along my very visible ribcage, it disgusted me how skeletal my body looked.

My head snapped up as I heard multiple voices in the corridor outside of my room, followed by thunderous feet on the stairs, it was followed by silence outside and the muffled sound of people downstairs. I bit my lip and pulled open my door suddenly very nervous of the fact I was going to be introduced to a room full of strangers… What if they were like some of the children at Burneywood? I'd only managed to make one friend there; he was the only one that stood up for me, whilst the rest took pleasure in making my life there a living hell.

I stepped quietly into the kitchen and fiddled with the sleeve of my hoody as I stood by the counter. Slowly, one by one the faces around the table noticed me and the buzz of conversation died to silence… Liam was the first to speak; his voice was genuinely happy and surprised.

"Alright," He grinned, crumbs of toast around his mouth, I smiled weakly at him.

"Guys, this is Ava Marshal, she'll be staying with us now," Mike introduced.

"Hi," I stopped fiddling with my hands and shoved them into my pockets. Liam waved me over to the empty seat by him, my smile grew as I made my way over to him and sat down, still feeling mildly uncomfortable under the others gazes. Mike and Gina looked at each other before subtly leaving the room.

"Nice to meet ya again," Liam grinned breaking the silence.

"You know her?" a small girl, who only looked 11, with light brown hair tied back in a ponytail, asked. "I'm Tee by the way," She introduced, I smiled at her

"Yeh met when I was on the run," Liam replied. I nodded slightly in agreement.

"So who are you all?" I asked looking around at the sea of faces.

"I'm Carmen," A girl of Asian decent dressed mainly in pinks introduced.

"I'm Johnny," The boy next to her spoke, "That's my sister," He pointed to Tee, I now noticed the family resemblance.

"I'm Frank," A boy spoke, though his speech was somewhat slurred, I realised that he suffered from some form of a condition.

"I'm Harry!" An adorable blond haired boy with bright blue eyes cheered "And this is Geoff," He motioned towards the toy giraffe in his arms.

"Nice to meet you Geoff," I smiled.

"I'm Gus," A dark haired boy with a note book in hand introduced last. I assumed I had met everyone until a girl around my age with tanned skin and dark brown curly hair wandered into the kitchen and sat down opposite me.

"Didn't know we were getting someone new," She sighed as she helped herself to cereal.

"That's Sapphire," Liam introduced, "She's a bit grumpy in the morning," He smirked.

"Shut up," Sapphire glared at him as she tucked into her breakfast.

"I wasn't exactly expected," I shrugged. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Gus appeared to be making notes on me.

"You mean you got yourself caught," Liam laughed.

After that initial first few sentences, breakfast went by smoothly, the group of children at Elm Tree were far nicer than the group of children (If they could be called that, they were more like thugs) at Burneywood.

Once breakfast had finished, Gus had insisted on giving me a tour in which I had to be silent on otherwise it wouldn't work. I smiled weakly and accepted the apparent major OCD he appeared to have and followed him around listening to him as he informed me of the rooms due to notes in his small black notebook. We finished out in the garden where Liam was kicking a football up against a wall by himself.

"Thank you for the tour," I smiled at Gus as he left to return inside while I walked over to Liam, sitting down on the grass. He looked over at me briefly before kicking the ball one last time at a goal painted on the beige wall. He stopped and came and sat next to me.

"You took the hoody then," He nodded towards the red jacket. I bit my lip somewhat guiltily.

"It slipped my mind… if you want it back…" I pushed a few loose strands of my now dry hair away from my face, looking at him with bright blue eyes.

"Nah, keep it," He laughed, "Think of it as a thank you,"

"Thank you?" My brow furrowed as I looked at him in confusion.

"You helped me when I was on the streets," He reminded.

"Oh," I nodded looking straight ahead. "Well you did look kind of pathetic… like a lost puppy," I teased. Liam's head turned to look at me and he frowned playfully at my teasing smirk, pushing me lightly on my shoulder.

"I would have been fine," He huffed.

"Course you would," I teased again earning another light push. "Okay, okay, I'll stop…" I laughed, Liam chuckled lowly. The two of us fell into silence.

"Why'd you just leave?" he asked, the conversation taking a serious tone.

"I told you squatting's ghetto," I looked at him. Liam frowned lightly, it was then that I realised I hated seeing him troubled, even in the slightest.

"So how'd you end up here?" He asked.

"Mike drove me," I offered, avoiding answering properly. He shot me a look that made me sober up and look away wrapping my arms around my legs. "I didn't mean to end up back in the system," I admitted. "But I got into a fight, the police broke it up, realised I looked a little young, took me to the station and I ended up here,"

"You were in a fight?" Liam asked skeptically

"Why is that so hard to believe," I asked with a laughed,

"You're just so small… and blond," He added.

"I'll ignore the blond comment," I glared playfully. "But I had a crowbar… I wasn't exactly defenceless,"

"You attacked a man with a crowbar?" Liam raised both eyebrows at me. I shifted awkwardly as the thoughts of the man plagued my mind… attempting to show me what could have happened if he had been successful in what he wanted to do.

"I don't want to talk about it," I murmured quietly, Liam studied my profile carefully realising that he's stumbled onto a precarious topic.

"You going to run again?" He asked. I looked at him and realised that it was a genuine concern.

"Not unless I find a reason to," I replied. "This place seems alright, better than Burneywood,"

"I think we already agreed, even the streets are better than Burneywood," Liam laughed.

"Touché,"

Unbeknown to the pair of us sat in the garden, our backs to the house. Tracy Beaker arrived for work, joining Mike in the kitchen. Her brown eyes fell onto me and she immediately asked Mike who I was.

"I got a call from the police at about 5 this morning, she'd been on the streets for about a month," Mike explained to her. "Apparently she met Liam during the week this place was closed,"

"How is she with the others?" Tracy asked as she watched Liam and me joke around.

"She seems fine," Mike replied. "But she hasn't had the best of experiences with care homes. She was at Burneywood for abut a year, I think it was that that made her want to run,"

"Well, we're not like Burneywood here," Tracy smiled.


End file.
